1 Nephi 17: 29

29 Yea, and ye also know that Moses, by his word according to the power of God which was in him, smote the rock, and there came forth water, that the children of Israel might quench their thirst.

Here is another verse giving evidence of the Lord’s power as Nephi builds to his final point, which is that “if the Lord can do all these things, why can’t he teach me how to build a boat?” But I just think the whole story of how Moses brought forth water from the rock is really a great story. Not only does it provide water to a thirsting people, but look at the symbolism. Christ taught that the rock of revelation is what His church would be built upon (Matthew 16: 17–18). He also taught that He was the Living Water (John 4:10–14). There are many references to Christ being the Rock as well. Paul may have one of the most explicit comparisons relative to this event that Nephi refers to in this verse (see 1 Corinthians 10:4 (1–4). None of this should be surprising to those who know that all the scriptures are full of types and symbols of Christ, or leading to Christ.

Ironically, this event is what prevented Moses from entering the Promised Land (Numbers 20:7–12). I read recently (I can’t remember the source) that this water still flows out of the rock today.

1 Nephi 17: 28

28 And ye also know that they were fed with manna in the wilderness.

Nephi’s purpose here is not to demonstrate how manna was a type and shadow of Jesus Christ himself, as the Living Bread, but rather to add yet another miracle, another piece of evidence showing how the Lord takes care of His people. In this way, this and other miracles wrought by the Lord through His prophets are similar to parables. Parables can be understood on different levels, depending on your understanding and testimony of the gospel. In that way the miracles of manna could be seen as a miraculous way to feed a couple of million people, but it can also be seen as a way to teach that Christ is the Living Bread, which He did in John 6:48–51.

1 Nephi 17: 26–27

26 Now ye know that Moses was commanded of the Lord to do that great work; and ye know that by his word the waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither, and they passed through on dry ground.
27 But ye know that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, who were the armies of Pharaoh.

Nephi now begins to build an argument that indisputably makes the case that the Lord takes care of His covenant people when they follow His commandments. He does that by leading them out of bondage, both physical and spiritual, if they will follow his prophets. He does it by protecting his people from those who would destroy them. This account of Moses leading the children of Israel out of bondage is so much a part of their history and identity that even those who are not particularly religious, like Laman and Lemuel, and the others who always were rebelling against Lehi’s lead, even they can turn to this defining event in their history as proof that God lives and has power in their lives. In Moroni’s great challenge and promise to those who read the Book of Mormon he makes a point of telling us to remember how merciful the Lord has always been to men (Moroni 10:3). It is important to remember specific events demonstrating this mercy in your own personal experience if possible, but in others’ experiences, like those found in the scriptures, if you can’t point to anything more personal. If God has always shown mercy, maybe He will show mercy to me. That is our hope.

1 Nephi 17: 25

25 Now ye know that the children of Israel were in bondage; and ye know that they were laden with tasks, which were grievous to be borne; wherefore, ye know that it must needs be a good thing for them, that they should be brought out of bondage.

Nephi continues to remind his brethren of the mercies God has shown His people in the past by leading them out of Egypt’s bondage. That’s important for us to remember as well, but the bondage we are more likely to be led out of is the bondage of sin, and the tasks grievous to be borne by us are addictions. Satan uses addictions to force our agency away from us, just as surely as a person in physical bondage has his freedom or agency taken away. That person in physical bondage to someone else has his freedoms forcibly taken from him. It is slavery to another’s will. The person in bondage to addictions also loses his freedom or agency, but usually with addictions we start by willingly handing it over. But the loss of freedom to choose (agency) is just as sure as if it had been taken from us by force. It is “a good thing for [us] that [we] should be brought out of [this] bondage” of sin and addiction. The Lord has a long record of leading people out of this spiritual bondage, and it is just as important for us to remember that as it was for Nephi’s brethren to remember how Israel was led out of Egyptian bondage. He has provided the Atonement, which was symbolized for the children of Israel by the Passover, and he has provided a prophet, like Moses, to show us the way out of our spiritual bondage.

• Genesis 15:13 (13–14)
• 2 Nephi 1:13
• Alma 12:11
• D&C 101:79

1 Nephi 17: 24

24 Yea, do ye suppose that they would have been led out of bondage, if the Lord had not commanded Moses that he should lead them out of bondage?

I believe one reason the Lord works through prophets is that many people lack the faith and courage to leave their comfort zones without somebody to follow. Any situation, no matter how bad, can become comfortable and difficult to leave, even bondage. All people need to be led out of bondage of some sort. Usually the bondage is that brought on by iniquity, but Nephi’s reference is to actual physical bondage. The comparison of the children of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt’s bondage and our own exodus out of Satan’s bondage of sin is a good one, and it’s not accidental. Since most of us lack the faith or the confidence to trust our ability to discern the Lord’s will, He provides a person that we can see and hear to be His mouthpiece. And just like the children of Israel needed a leader to follow, so do we.

Because Nephi is trying to convince his brethren to follow his lead in building this boat, in a roundabout way he is proclaiming himself to be a prophet here. (See my comments to verse seven in this chapter.) He is making the point that as Moses was called to lead the Lord’s people out of Egypt to a Promised Land, he, Nephi, has been called to lead the Lord’s people (Lehi’s family in this case) to another Promised Land. And just as their ancestors would not have left the bondage of Egypt for the Promised Land on their own without a prophet to lead them, so Laman and Lemuel would not leave the bondage of sin in Jerusalem to their Promised Land without a prophet. In both of these instances (Moses and Nephi) it was important that the people follow the prophet. If people don’t follow the prophet who speaks for God, then the prophet is reduced to saying in effect, “I told you so,” after the fact. Ether and Mormon were put in that situation in two of the most dramatic cases recorded in history of people not following the prophet. There needs to be a leader, and there needs to be people willing to follow the leader’s lead. I suppose if everyone was a prophet (see Numbers 11:29 and Revelation 19:10) there would be no need of a specific, called mouthpiece for the Lord, because we would all be receiving and following direction directly from the Lord. That takes more faith and sensitivity to receiving revelation than most people have, however, so until that time the Lord will continue working through mortal prophets as His mouthpieces.

1 Nephi 17: 23

23 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, spake unto them, saying: Do ye believe that our fathers, who were the children of Israel, would have been led away out of the hands of the Egyptians if they had not hearkened unto the words of the Lord?

Nephi’s response to Laman and Lemuel’s complaint is to remind them of the Lord’s hand in the history of their people. This is consistent with what Moroni instructs us to do when he tells us how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3). Moroni says that one of the first things we should do when we read the Book of Mormon is to “remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men…and ponder it in [our] hearts.” I think one of the main reasons for Moroni’s advice and Nephi’s approach to answering his brothers’ complaints is to establish the Lord’s track record. If you can believe that the Lord would help His people in this other situation, then why can’t you believe He would help His people this time as well? The other point Nephi is laying the foundation to make is that the Lord will help His people if they listen and hearken to what He says. So if the children of Israel had not done what the Lord told them, they would have been stuck as slaves in Egypt. The obvious connection here is that if Lehi had not hearkened to the Lord, he and his family would have been destroyed with the rest of Jerusalem. This is part of the case Nephi will make over the next several verses.

• Moroni 10:3

1 Nephi 17: 22

22 And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people; and our father hath judged them, and hath led us away because we would hearken unto his words; yea, and our brother is like unto him. And after this manner of language did my brethren murmur and complain against us.

There are just a couple of things that Laman and company say here that are major assumptions on their parts, and demonstrate a spiritual immaturity. When they state that they know the people in Jerusalem are righteous they give as evidence the fact that they keep “the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments according to the law of Moses.” This is a major assumption for them because it assumes that the outward show made by the priests was all that was necessary to be righteous, and that the show was all there was to them. In other words, the assumption was that because they made a public show of righteousness, they also kept the commandments in private. Even if the priests were perfectly upright all the time, the brethren also assumed that the rest of the people were also righteous. The Lord looks on the heart, while man tends to look at outward appearances (1 Samuel 16:7), and there must have been something that Laman and Lemuel missed that would cause the Lord to allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. So that’s assumption number one in this verse. Number two is that Lehi judged the people. I think it would have been more accurate to say the Lord judged them, and Lehi was the mouthpiece, the prophet of the Lord. They did get it right when they accused Nephi of being like Lehi. It’s an indication of a lack of testimony that Nephi’s brethren used this fact as a point of contention. This verse also confirms that Laman and Lemuel came on this journey in obedience to Lehi, not to the Lord. Big difference between that attitude and Nephi’s, who would go and do the things the Lord commanded, one of which was to honor and obey parents, by the way.

• 1 Samuel 16:7